India vs England 2nd T20I: Hosts level series with India

Alex Hales’ unbeaten 58 off 41 balls directed England to victory in the second T20I against India in Cardiff.

Alex kept his nerve to see England home and come at par with India 1-1 on Friday.

Set 149 to win off their 20 overs, England needed 12 off the final over and Hales put Bhuvneshwar Kumar out of the Cardiff ground off the first ball and the second for four.

A single followed and David Willey hit Kumar for the winning runs to set up the determine on Monday. England’s big hitters at the top of the order Jos Buttler and Jason Roy were both out quite early.

Earlier, Virat Kohli’s 47 off 38 balls along with a quick-fire 32 from MS Dhoni guided India to a par score of 148/5 in 20 overs. Dhoni and Pandya added 22 critical, runs in the final over. For England, David Willey was the most successful bowler picking 1 wicket for 18 runs.

“He comes into the squad for the next game and he is a fantastic player and it will be a difficult decision to make,” Morgan told reporters after the Cardiff win.

“We have made calls like this in the past and we will make the call for the benefit of the team and put out our strongest XI.

“Alex always makes it difficult particularly in T20 cricket. He has played a lot of T20 and he is a very experienced warrior. An innings like that gives him a pretty strong case for the next game.

“But we played better than we did at Old Trafford and the plans we had we committed to more. There was a lot more clarity in the shots that we played.”

Indian captain Virat Kohli said: “They did their homework and played really well. It changed the momentum in the middle overs and that was the difference.”

Miserly spells from Liam Plunkett and David Willey, who took one for 17 and one for 18 respectively helped England keep India low to 148-5 despite some big hitting from Dhoni and Kohli.